Favourite haunt of Charles Dickens
The Vines is an important local garden with a unique heritage and history. The Grade II listed park is situated a short distance from Rochester High Street within the Conservation Area, and is overlooked by some of Rochester’s most architecturally important buildings, including Restoration House where Charles II stayed on the eve of his restoration in 1660.
The Vines originally derived its name from the monks of nearby St. Andrews Priory who used the area as their vineyard. The park is known to have been a favourite haunt of Charles Dickens and is featured in several of his novels; he was seen walking in The Vines just three days before his death in 1870.
The storm of 1987
In the storm of October 1987, The Vines lost more than 50 of its mature trees, many of which have since been replaced. One of the badly damaged, but still rooted Plane trees was carved into a sculpture of a monk by Robert Koenig in 1997. This became unstable and has been relocated to an area of the north-western border, that has been dedicated as a stag beetle habitat. The stump of the original monk sculpture remains and continues to be a stag beetle habitat
The Vines today
Today The Vines is a welcoming space, popular with families, which features an impressive avenue of mature London Plane trees, bordering a central path known as the Broad Walk.
The park supports mature shrubberies and colourful herbaceous planting to encourage many wildlife species.
Medway Council has provided a number of bat, bird and bee boxes to encourage wildlife. The Vines is also a valuable educational resource for local schools, who use the park as part of their curricular activities.